Peter Gross has been working in comics since the 1990s, when he self-published the black-and-white series Empire Lanes. He’s best known for his work on DC’s Books of Magic and Lucifer but he also did artwork for Marvel’s Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and Hellstorm: Prince of Lies lines and for Dark Horse titles Chosen and The Mask: The Hunt for Green October. Gross also taught at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, where he helped set up a comic art program.

Cully Hamner has done art on such series as The Authority, Green Lantern, Uncanny X-Men, and Spider-Man. These days he’s best known for his work on the relaunched Blue Beetle series for DC, initially written by Keith Giffen.

In all honesty, I might never have encountered Rene Engström’s excellent webcomic Anders Loves Maria if it wasn’t for the following recommendation:

I didn’t think there’d ever be a good, heartfelt character development that took place while characters were naked & having teh buttsecks.

It felt necessary to include that quote, because now that I’ve spent some time with Anders Loves Maria, I realize that it really sums up one of the most impressive attributes of Engström’s daily strip about love, life and evolution of a human relationship. The Swedish-Canadian cartoonist’s ongoing tale of a late-20s couple on the threshold of a new chapter in life is filled with evidence of Engström’s knack for adding depth to her cast of characters at the most unexpected moments, and an ability to find the true emotional impact of any experience, no matter how intimate or mundane.

The process of interviewing Engström, who is based in Brunflo, Sweden, is also worth mentioning here. In order to create a more personal atmosphere, the cartoonist had a friend sit in and ask the questions I had sent her. I bring this up only because I believe it sheds some light on the creator’s approach to her work and, well, it’s just important to give credit where it’s due. So, my thanks go out to Rene Engström’s friend, whoever you are, for being my stand-in on the following interview.

COMICMIX: What are you up to today, Rene?

RENE ENGSTRÖM: Today I’m working on Anders Loves Maria, specifically for today. And I am eating vanilla yogurt with apple and cinnamon müsli. Besides Anders Loves Maria, I’m also working on some conceptual design for an animated film. That’s about it. Oh, and I’m also trying to get out t-shirt designs so I can make some money. I’m poor.

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This week I have three books from the fine folks at Yen Press. All of them are the second volume in their respective series, and I’ve only read the first book of one of them…which means it’s time for me to be confused yet again.

(Don’t worry – I’m well used to it by now.)

Black God, Vol. 2
Story by Dall-Young Lim; Art by Sung-Wao Park
Yen Press, 2008, $10.99

This is yet another series about a young man (Keita) bonded to a gorgeous supernatural girl (Kuro) who doesn’t have much knowledge of the modern world – apparently, he lost his arm in the first book, and she saved his life and bonded permanently with him to get his arm back. (She’s a “mototsumitama,” for those making notes at home. What does that mean? I dunno…)

In a startling reversal, Keita is not a nerdy high school student, but a mid-20s jerk of a videogame designer/programmer. (On the big two-page title spread of the very first story in this book, he’s strangling Kuro awake in the morning because she ruined his life – “ruined” apparently in the sense of “saved him from dying and gave him a connection to vast supernatural hoodoo.”) I think Keita is supposed to be at least mildly attractive to the reader, but I found him a complete ass.

In this book, some of the details of the human-mototsumitama relationship are explained, as Kuro meets another mototsumitama woman, who is bonded to an old man. (Keita’s boyhood friend, the equally cute Akane, also has something to do with the overall plot, but exactly what isn’t clear yet.) And what happens when two super-powered folks meet in a comic book, kids? That’s right – a big fight scene!

The art is clean and detailed, easy to follow for Americans while still being clearly in a manga style. The story is nothing terribly new – psychic battles, girls in their underwear, emotional turmoil – but it moves decently and the dialogue is pretty good. If Keita were anything like an acceptable human being, this could be a solid adventure story.

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When I first heard about the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Mark Miller’s Wanted, I was, as I usually am in these situations, skeptical. Hollywood’s treatment of comic books has ranged greatly over the years and produced some seriously bad movies such as Daredevil, Ghost Rider and The League of Extrordinary Gentlemen.

However, to be fair, Hollywood also gets it right sometimes, like they did with Sin City, Batman Begins and X-Men. So, when I heard about the Wanted movie I was hopeful that this one could potentially join the ranks of "good" films  — that is, until I saw the first trailer. And now, there’s another one — which doesn’t really make things any better.

I’m not sure what movie they think they’re making, but it isn’t Wanted — at least not the one that I read. Instead, we’re treated to what appears to be your standard action fare including guns, babes, car chases and explosions galore. Don’t get me wrong, I like all those things — especially babes that take on the form of Angelina Jolie.

What I don’t like is Hollywood buying the rights to a comic book just to use the title and not making a movie actually based, in some part, on that comic book. Sure, Wanted might have things about it that may be difficult to adapt for the movies — like an interesting bad guy made out of a certain waste material — but still, those are the things that made Wanted interesting, unique and fun in the first place.

In the alternate reality where I run everything, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen. Sadly, we don’t live in that world and instead have to deal with things like this. Well, enough of my ranting, head on over to MySpace if you want to see the new trailer and stills from the movie supposedly based on the Wanted comic book. Enjoy.